Ebbw Valley Railway

Ebbw Valley Railway
Rheilffordd Cwm Ebwy
View along country station platform with bilingual exit signage. Passengers wait to board a two carriage train, which is stationary on the single track. Platform, train and track curve slightly right to left. Trees in full leaf stand alongside the track, with mountains in the distance.
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerNetwork Rail
LocaleEbbw Valley, South Wales
Termini
Stations8
Service
TypeHeavy rail
SystemNational Rail
Operator(s)Transport for Wales Rail
Rolling stockClass 197 DMUs[1]
History
Opened21 December 1850
Closed30 April 1962
Reopened6 February 2008
Technical
Line length19 miles 57 chains (31.7 km)[2][3]
Number of tracksSingle track
(Double track from Risca and Pontymister to Aberbeeg)[4]
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Highest elevation820 feet (250 m)
Route map

(Click to expand)
Iron Works Halt
Ebbw Vale Town
Ebbw Vale Parkway
Cwm
Abertillery
Aberbeeg
Llanhilleth
Crumlin
High LevelLow Level
Newbridge
Abercarn
Cwmcarn
Crosskeys
Risca
Risca and Pontymister
Tynycwm Halt
Rogerstone
Machen Quarry
Pye Corner
Bassaleg Junction
Park Junction
Newport Dock Street

The Ebbw Valley Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Cwm Ebwy) is a branch line of the South Wales Main Line in South Wales. Transport for Wales Rail provides an hourly passenger service each way between Ebbw Vale Town and Cardiff Central, and an hourly service each way between Ebbw Vale Town and Newport.

The line was opened by the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company and the Great Western Railway (GWR) operated a passenger service from the 1850s between Newport and Ebbw Vale. The line became part of British Railways Western Region in 1948, following the nationalisation of the railways. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1962. However, the route continued to be used to carry freight to and from the Corus steelworks in Ebbw Vale, until its closure in 2002. Proposals to re-open the existing freight railway line to passenger services were first mooted in 1998. The Welsh Assembly Government announced their commitment to the project in 2002, as part of a package of measures to help the former steel communities.

Passenger services were restored to the line in February 2008, after a gap of 46 years, using Class 150 diesel multiple units. Predominantly single track north of Newport, but with an extended 10 mile passing loop between Risca and Aberbeeg,[4] the Ebbw Valley Railway runs 19 miles (31 km) along the Ebbw River valley from Ebbw Vale, before joining the South Wales Main Line at a triangular group of junctions in Newport – the line splitting at Park Junction with the eastbound section joining at Gaer Junction and the westbound section joining at Ebbw Junction. The line's stations and services are managed by Transport for Wales Rail.

  1. ^ Pritchard, Robert (June 2024). "Ebbw Vale launch for 197s". Rolling Stock News. Today's Railways UK. No. 268. p. 61.
  2. ^ Yonge, John; Padgett, David (August 2010) [1989]. Bridge, Mike (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western (5th ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. maps 21A & 28A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-6-7.
  3. ^ "EBW mileages". Railway Codes. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TfwSep2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).